Cognitive:Students will realize that a true leader serves others.
Affective:Students will want to live altruistically and will feel more compassion for others.
Behavioral:Students will serve others more.
Class Session 1:
Materials Needed:
Three or four newspapers; old ones are fine
Ask students if they have ever experienced joy through helping someone else. Ask them to share stories about times they helped a stranger and felt good about it. Then have them reread "The Good Samaritan—A Leader in Doing Good Deeds".
The Good Samaritan—a Leader in Doing Good Deeds
The Good Samaritan in The New Testament is so famous that there are thousands of hospitals, community centers, and charity groups all over the world named "The Good Samaritan" after him. Newspapers sometimes use the title in their headlines to describe someone doing a good deed: "Good Samaritan saves child from oncoming car," and such. The story of The Good Samaritan tells us two very important things: that we are to help others when we see them in need, and that anyone can do good things for the sake of helping others.
The Good Samaritan belonged to a religious "out group." The leaders in the town looked down on his group. Still, when a man was robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the side of the road, it was the Good Samaritan who stopped and helped. He cleaned and bandaged the man's wounds, he helped him to an inn, he paid the innkeeper himself, and later returned to check on the injured man to make sure he was all right. He probably saved the man's life. In this, the Good Samaritan showed that he was a truer leader than the important people in the town, who had walked right past the injured man and had not bothered to help him.
Next, ask the students about times they have helped friends or family members. Ask them to share any stories they would like to. Then have them reread "Kevin—a Teenage Leader". Ask them if they know anyone like Kevin. Tell them that Kevin is based on a real person—a high-school student like themselves.
Kevin—a Teenage Leader
"Kevin! Kevin!" It seemed like that was the only name in the park that day. Everyone wanted Kevin's attention and companionship, and everyone was calling his name.
Kevin was a teenage boy who lived for serving others. He spent his pocket money buying treats and snacks for the other kids. (His mother wondered why he was always low on money!) When another kid got hurt, Kevin would take him or her to his house and wash out the cut and apply a bandage or call the kid's parents. When kids needed to get home after dark, Kevin tried to get rides for them or walked them home himself. He often brought water to the park for other kids on hot days, or brought the kids to his kitchen door and asked his mother for juice or ice water for them.
Because of how much he helped others, the other children turned to Kevin to mediate arguments in the park and on the field and basketball court. Kevin was able to soothe tempers and calm people down so they could talk out their problems with each other. He prevented fights by helping kids get their anger out in words instead of blows. Since he excelled at sports, the kids trusted him to decide any questions or arguments about the rules in a game. They knew he'd be fair.
"Why is everyone always calling 'Kevin! Kevin'?" a jealous neighborhood boy complained
"He's the leader!" the other kids told him.
Explain that helping others involves having compassion for them. Compassion means being able to feel sorry for someone and to want to help him or her.
Divide the students into small groups. Give each group a newspaper to study. Each group is to find at least one article that excites their compassion. For instance, it could be compassion for the victim of a crime; compassion for elderly people being turned out of a housing project; compassion for people who lost their house in a fire; compassion for the little children of a police officer killed in the line of duty who will grow up without a father; compassion for people who use a government assistance program which has been terminated; compassion for a group who are trying to build a new church but who keep getting blocked by city zoning ordinances; or others.
Ask students to do the Exercise: "Myself as a Leader" tonight as an experiment.
Class Session 2:
Explain that this session will be about motivation—why people do what they do. If someone does altruistic things out of a selfish motivation, or only to be praised and noticed, they probably don't get much inner satisfaction.
Ask students to take a few moments to think about why they do the things they do. Have them fold a piece of paper in half lengthwise, and on the left half of the paper ask them to make a list of the things they have done so far today.
Tell them that there was a very famous psychologist who noticed that, as a young man, he was quite selfish. He then wanted to find out what makes people the way they are, and that led him to become a psychologist. The incident that taught him how selfish he was happened one day as he was walking on campus at his university, where he ran into an acquaintance. They spoke for a few minutes and then parted. The psychologist-to-be realized suddenly that every word he had said in the conversation was selfishly motivated. Everything he had said had been to impress the other person. Even when he listened to the other person, he was secretly planning his next remark, secretly planning what he could say to promote himself. Even when he asked the other person how he was, he was trying to get credit for being polite and concerned. This young man was M. Scott Peck, author of one of the greatest best sellers on the human psyche.
If we are honest, we will notice that most of what we do is to try to get some kind of happiness or glory or gain for ourselves. We make a joke so that other people think we are funny and will like us. We talk about others behind their backs in order to make ourselves seem better than they are. We are polite to our elders because we will get in trouble if we are not.
Now ask students to look at their lists of things they have done so far today. Did they do those things for themselves or for others? Have them mark each item "S" for self or "O" for others. This is for their eyes only, so encourage them to be very honest.
Mention that they may have to think quite deeply to get at their real motivation for doing things. For example, if they wrote, "I went to school" and marked it "O" for others because they do it for the sake of their parents, ask them to look a little deeper. Are they going to school selflessly, only to please their parents? Or are they going to school so that their parents don't get angry with them? If so, that means they are really going to school for themselves—to avoid the discomfort of having their parents angry with them.
Mention that living selfishly is the opposite of altruism—which is living for the sake of others, for their benefit, not for ours. A selfishly lived life is never a satisfying one.
Have students fill out the Reflection Exercise in their student books.
Reflection Exercise:
Think about and write down things you can do for other people in all the settings of your life: at the breakfast table at home, on the bus or walking to school, in class, after school, going home to dinner, and so on. It would be good to try to put some of these ideas into practice.
Ask each person to share one thing they plan to do for others.
Then ask the students to do the Questions for Reflection in their student books.
Questions for Reflection
1. What does it mean to live altruistically?
2. Is it possible to just live for ourselves? Will we be happy that way?
3. What is compassion?
4. Explain the difference between a true leader and someone who just wants to be the center of attention.
5. What things did the Good Samaritan do to help the beaten man?
5. Have you ever helped someone you didn't really have to help?
Objectives
Cognitive: Students will realize that a true leader serves others.
Affective: Students will want to live altruistically and will feel more compassion for others.
Behavioral: Students will serve others more.
Class Session 1:
Materials Needed:
Three or four newspapers; old ones are fine
Ask students if they have ever experienced joy through helping someone else. Ask them to share stories about times they helped a stranger and felt good about it. Then have them reread "The Good Samaritan—A Leader in Doing Good Deeds".
The Good Samaritan—a Leader in Doing Good Deeds
The Good Samaritan in The New Testament is so famous that there are thousands of hospitals, community centers, and charity groups all over the world named "The Good Samaritan" after him. Newspapers sometimes use the title in their headlines to describe someone doing a good deed: "Good Samaritan saves child from oncoming car," and such. The story of The Good Samaritan tells us two very important things: that we are to help others when we see them in need, and that anyone can do good things for the sake of helping others.
The Good Samaritan belonged to a religious "out group." The leaders in the town looked down on his group. Still, when a man was robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the side of the road, it was the Good Samaritan who stopped and helped. He cleaned and bandaged the man's wounds, he helped him to an inn, he paid the innkeeper himself, and later returned to check on the injured man to make sure he was all right. He probably saved the man's life. In this, the Good Samaritan showed that he was a truer leader than the important people in the town, who had walked right past the injured man and had not bothered to help him.
Next, ask the students about times they have helped friends or family members. Ask them to share any stories they would like to. Then have them reread "Kevin—a Teenage Leader". Ask them if they know anyone like Kevin. Tell them that Kevin is based on a real person—a high-school student like themselves.
Kevin—a Teenage Leader
"Kevin! Kevin!" It seemed like that was the only name in the park that day. Everyone wanted Kevin's attention and companionship, and everyone was calling his name.
Kevin was a teenage boy who lived for serving others. He spent his pocket money buying treats and snacks for the other kids. (His mother wondered why he was always low on money!) When another kid got hurt, Kevin would take him or her to his house and wash out the cut and apply a bandage or call the kid's parents. When kids needed to get home after dark, Kevin tried to get rides for them or walked them home himself. He often brought water to the park for other kids on hot days, or brought the kids to his kitchen door and asked his mother for juice or ice water for them.
Because of how much he helped others, the other children turned to Kevin to mediate arguments in the park and on the field and basketball court. Kevin was able to soothe tempers and calm people down so they could talk out their problems with each other. He prevented fights by helping kids get their anger out in words instead of blows. Since he excelled at sports, the kids trusted him to decide any questions or arguments about the rules in a game. They knew he'd be fair.
"Why is everyone always calling 'Kevin! Kevin'?" a jealous neighborhood boy complained
"He's the leader!" the other kids told him.
Explain that helping others involves having compassion for them. Compassion means being able to feel sorry for someone and to want to help him or her.
Divide the students into small groups. Give each group a newspaper to study. Each group is to find at least one article that excites their compassion. For instance, it could be compassion for the victim of a crime; compassion for elderly people being turned out of a housing project; compassion for people who lost their house in a fire; compassion for the little children of a police officer killed in the line of duty who will grow up without a father; compassion for people who use a government assistance program which has been terminated; compassion for a group who are trying to build a new church but who keep getting blocked by city zoning ordinances; or others.
Ask students to do the Exercise: "Myself as a Leader" tonight as an experiment.
Class Session 2:
Explain that this session will be about motivation—why people do what they do. If someone does altruistic things out of a selfish motivation, or only to be praised and noticed, they probably don't get much inner satisfaction.
Ask students to take a few moments to think about why they do the things they do. Have them fold a piece of paper in half lengthwise, and on the left half of the paper ask them to make a list of the things they have done so far today.
Tell them that there was a very famous psychologist who noticed that, as a young man, he was quite selfish. He then wanted to find out what makes people the way they are, and that led him to become a psychologist. The incident that taught him how selfish he was happened one day as he was walking on campus at his university, where he ran into an acquaintance. They spoke for a few minutes and then parted. The psychologist-to-be realized suddenly that every word he had said in the conversation was selfishly motivated. Everything he had said had been to impress the other person. Even when he listened to the other person, he was secretly planning his next remark, secretly planning what he could say to promote himself. Even when he asked the other person how he was, he was trying to get credit for being polite and concerned. This young man was M. Scott Peck, author of one of the greatest best sellers on the human psyche.
If we are honest, we will notice that most of what we do is to try to get some kind of happiness or glory or gain for ourselves. We make a joke so that other people think we are funny and will like us. We talk about others behind their backs in order to make ourselves seem better than they are. We are polite to our elders because we will get in trouble if we are not.
Now ask students to look at their lists of things they have done so far today. Did they do those things for themselves or for others? Have them mark each item "S" for self or "O" for others. This is for their eyes only, so encourage them to be very honest.
Mention that they may have to think quite deeply to get at their real motivation for doing things. For example, if they wrote, "I went to school" and marked it "O" for others because they do it for the sake of their parents, ask them to look a little deeper. Are they going to school selflessly, only to please their parents? Or are they going to school so that their parents don't get angry with them? If so, that means they are really going to school for themselves—to avoid the discomfort of having their parents angry with them.
Mention that living selfishly is the opposite of altruism—which is living for the sake of others, for their benefit, not for ours. A selfishly lived life is never a satisfying one.
Have students fill out the Reflection Exercise in their student books.
Reflection Exercise:
Think about and write down things you can do for other people in all the settings of your life: at the breakfast table at home, on the bus or walking to school, in class, after school, going home to dinner, and so on. It would be good to try to put some of these ideas into practice.
Ask each person to share one thing they plan to do for others.
Then ask the students to do the Questions for Reflection in their student books.
Questions for Reflection
1. What does it mean to live altruistically?
2. Is it possible to just live for ourselves? Will we be happy that way?
3. What is compassion?
4. Explain the difference between a true leader and someone who just wants to be the center of attention.
5. What things did the Good Samaritan do to help the beaten man?
5. Have you ever helped someone you didn't really have to help?
7. In what ways do you live altruistically?